November 2nd.
APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls:
This topic on the sexualization of girls motivates me be more aware of what soceity is doing. Young women are being trained at such a young age by family, friends, and media about what they should and should not wear. The pressure that is put on young girls to be these sexual objects is so disturbing. We have come a long way to having women become more powerful in society; however, we fail to encourage success in something other than their appearance…
“More general societal effects may include an increase in sexism; fewer girls pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); increased rates of sexual harassment and sexual violence; and an increased demand for child pornography (pg 1).”This is upsetting and I cannot imagine what goes through these young girls’ minds when letting the presence of sexism determine their career. I am most motivated by this because I strongly believe women need to be in these type of careers. Women need to feel motivated by knowing their desired career in mostly pursued by men. Women are discouraged becuase of what they learn at such a young age. For example, the swimsuit and sweater test conducted in this article proves how insecure women feel about their appearance. The participants who tested worse were those young girls in swimsuits? Why? The ones who were comfortable wearing a sweater did better becasue they didn’t have the pressure of exposing their skin. Should we blame media for this?
Video:
Karen Sternheimer mentions in this video how society finds it convenient to blame media for sex and drugs. I agree with Sternheimer because many people believe in the protectionist approch eventhough reality is that sex and drugs are everywhere not only in media.
Relating this video to the article on sexualizing women, Rap music sexualizes women extremely well. However, popular culture accepts this. I myself dont mind some Rap music. If you really listen to some of the lyrics you will hear how women are described as sex objects. Music and how popular culture accepts music may lead to the continuous use of sexism in society today.
